What do you ladies do...

...when your LO is sick and won't nap? DD has been sick for the past two months with a cold/ear infection/cold/ ear infection pattern and she hasn't had decent sleep. She's been getting up between 4-5:30 a.m,. for a while now and only sleeps about 7 hours at night and rarely naps anymore. She was finally feeling better and I sent her to daycare on Wednesday to play with the kids (the only kids she ever sees) and now it's Saturday and she has a high fever again, runny nose and has cried all morning. I put her in for her nap 30 minutes ago and she's been in there screaming like someone cut her leg off since. If I go in and calm her down then leave the room again it'll just start up all over again but she needs her sleep. I am hoping she will tire herself out and fall asleep but I don't like listening to her scream like that for so long. What do you guys do when your kid is sick to get them some sleep? I can't hold her while she sleeps anymore, she's too big, and she won't sleep in my bed. I've tried that and she just wants to get up and get into everything. I can tell she's tired but she won't sleep. I don't think 7 hours is enough sleep for a kid this age. Thanks!

...when your LO is sick and won't nap? DD has been sick for the past two months with a cold/ear infection/cold/ ear infection pattern and she hasn't had decent sleep. She's been getting up between 4-5:30 a.m,. for a while now and only sleeps about 7 hours at night and rarely naps anymore. She was finally feeling better and I sent her to daycare on Wednesday to play with the kids (the only kids she ever sees) and now it's Saturday and she has a high fever again, runny nose and has cried all morning. I put her in for her nap 30 minutes ago and she's been in there screaming like someone cut her leg off since. If I go in and calm her down then leave the room again it'll just start up all over again but she needs her sleep. I am hoping she will tire herself out and fall asleep but I don't like listening to her scream like that for so long. What do you guys do when your kid is sick to get them some sleep? I can't hold her while she sleeps anymore, she's too big, and she won't sleep in my bed. I've tried that and she just wants to get up and get into everything. I can tell she's tired but she won't sleep. I don't think 7 hours is enough sleep for a kid this age. Thanks!

I had a very difficult time with my older daughter when she was little. Between reflux and ear infections she never slept enough. Part of the problem was that when she was healthy (with no ear infection), she always had fluid in her ears. So she always felt pressure when laying down. Seeing and ENT doc fixed that (with a med and avoiding tubes). The other problem was that if she slept bad at night she wouldn't sleep well at nap. And then the cycle would continue. The only way for her to nap would be to sleep well at night and vice versa. What helped me was when I had to make a small trip. My daughter could sleep in her car seat for a couple of hours sitting upright so that even with a cold or ear infection she didn't have that pressure in her ears like you do when laying down, or that congested feeling. Once she was able to get a good nap she would be more herself and then would be easier to get back into a normal sleep schedule. HTH. It is so hard when they are sick.

I had a very difficult time with my older daughter when she was little. Between reflux and ear infections she never slept enough. Part of the problem was that when she was healthy (with no ear infection), she always had fluid in her ears. So she always felt pressure when laying down. Seeing and ENT doc fixed that (with a med and avoiding tubes). The other problem was that if she slept bad at night she wouldn't sleep well at nap. And then the cycle would continue. The only way for her to nap would be to sleep well at night and vice versa. What helped me was when I had to make a small trip. My daughter could sleep in her car seat for a couple of hours sitting upright so that even with a cold or ear infection she didn't have that pressure in her ears like you do when laying down, or that congested feeling. Once she was able to get a good nap she would be more herself and then would be easier to get back into a normal sleep schedule. HTH. It is so hard when they are sick.

Yes! It's a vicious circle of no nap, not sleeping at night, getting sick, getting an ear infection and then not sleeping because of the illness. It's been going on for a couple of months now. The doc keeps saying her ears clear up after each infection but then she immediately gets another cold. DD doesn't sleep in the car but maybe I'll talk to an ENT to see what they have to say, didn't think of that. Thanks!

Yes! It's a vicious circle of no nap, not sleeping at night, getting sick, getting an ear infection and then not sleeping because of the illness. It's been going on for a couple of months now. The doc keeps saying her ears clear up after each infection but then she immediately gets another cold. DD doesn't sleep in the car but maybe I'll talk to an ENT to see what they have to say, didn't think of that. Thanks!

The ENT was a life saver for us. My daughter was a different person afterwards. The ENT took one look in her ears, no infection but lots of fluid. He perscribed nasonex (the allergy med), although it's main function is for allergy sufferers it has another effect of clearing the fluid out. The ENT said that the nasonex is extremely efficiant in helping kids who retain fluid in their ears but many kids will not let you spray up their nose. We were lucky our daughter tolerated it well and we were able to avoid tubes. I was really concerned about having my child on a steroid because of the long term effects. The ENT told me that there was a study done on children with constant ear infections (independent of the drug company) and they were expecting the results to be a stunted growth due to prolonged steroid use...but the results were actually the opposite. The children who were perscribed nasonex actually had a healthier outcome because our body's naturally produce our growth hormones during sleep and the children on nasonex were getting better sleep from having no fluid in there ears than the children who did not recieve the treatment. We were fortunate because the ENT near us is one of the best in the Northeast. I know that that was kind of a long ramble, but it might be worth mentioning, especially since it helped my daughter so much. Another positive side effect the ENT had was that my daughter, who we had no concerns of a speech or hearing problem (she had a very large vocabulary to begin with), started speaking incredibly clear once the fluid was gone. The constant fluid in her ear changed the way she heard herself and others speak. Our doctor recomends seeing an ENT if a child had 5 or more ear infections in a year. We actually were recommended after 4 but my daughter became allergic to the antibiotic that treated her ear infections (the first few they tried had no effect).

The ENT was a life saver for us. My daughter was a different person afterwards. The ENT took one look in her ears, no infection but lots of fluid. He perscribed nasonex (the allergy med), although it's main function is for allergy sufferers it has another effect of clearing the fluid out. The ENT said that the nasonex is extremely efficiant in helping kids who retain fluid in their ears but many kids will not let you spray up their nose. We were lucky our daughter tolerated it well and we were able to avoid tubes. I was really concerned about having my child on a steroid because of the long term effects. The ENT told me that there was a study done on children with constant ear infections (independent of the drug company) and they were expecting the results to be a stunted growth due to prolonged steroid use...but the results were actually the opposite. The children who were perscribed nasonex actually had a healthier outcome because our body's naturally produce our growth hormones during sleep and the children on nasonex were getting better sleep from having no fluid in there ears than the children who did not recieve the treatment. We were fortunate because the ENT near us is one of the best in the Northeast. I know that that was kind of a long ramble, but it might be worth mentioning, especially since it helped my daughter so much. Another positive side effect the ENT had was that my daughter, who we had no concerns of a speech or hearing problem (she had a very large vocabulary to begin with), started speaking incredibly clear once the fluid was gone. The constant fluid in her ear changed the way she heard herself and others speak. Our doctor recomends seeing an ENT if a child had 5 or more ear infections in a year. We actually were recommended after 4 but my daughter became allergic to the antibiotic that treated her ear infections (the first few they tried had no effect).

The material on this website is provided for educational purposes only and is not to be used for medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment, or in place of therapy or medical care. Use of this site is subject to our terms of use and privacy policy

Advertising Notice

This Site and third parties who place advertisements on this Site may collect and use information about your visits to this Site and other websites in order to provide advertisements about goods and services of interest to you. If you would like to obtain more information about these advertising practices and to make choices about online behavioral advertising, please click here